Korean women rush to donate eggs after research pioneer resigns
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《英国医生杂志》
The resignation of the pioneering Korean stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk as chairman of the recently formed World Stem Cell Hub will not stop the progress of stem cell research in Korea, he said this week.
Professor Hwang of Seoul National University resigned from his chairmanship on 24 November when he admitted that the eggs used in his laboratory's research came from two junior researchers in his team and from paid donors.
"I will resign from any official advisory board to the government, but I will keep doing stem cell research. The Global Stem Cell Hub will continue by my stem cell researchers and others, and we will do stem cell research by keeping within strict ethical guidelines," he said.
Hwang Woo-suk resigned as chairman of the World Stem Cell Hub after admitting two scientists in his lab donated their eggs for research
Credit: LEE JIN-MAN/AP/EMPICS
Controversy over the source of eggs used in Korean stem cell research, which culminated in Professor Hwang's decision to resign, prompted hundreds of Korean women to offer to donate their eggs, Professor Hwang's supporters said.
The Group to Support Egg Donation for Research and Treatment Purposes was established on 21 November by prominent Korean business leaders, politicians, and celebrities to enable volunteers for egg donation to donate eggs legally and to ensure that donated eggs are used for research purposes. A report from Agence France-Presse said that more than 700 donors have already come forward, including women with incurable diseases or their family members.
The Global Stem Cell Hub was officially opened in Seoul in October this year to make stem cells available to researchers around the world (BMJ 2005;331: 982, 29 Oct). It was intended that the centre would enhance collaboration between teams led by Professor Hwang, Professor Gerald Schatten, director of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, and Ian Wilmut, head of the Department of Gene Expression and Development at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh. However, amid growing controversy about the source of eggs used to generate stem cells, Professor Schatten withdrew from the collaboration in mid-November.
On the same day that Professor Hwang's support group was launched, the fertility expert Sun Il Roh, the head of Miz Medi Clinic, Seoul, told a press conference that he had paid 20 women $1430 (￡840; 1220) each to harvest their eggs and then gave them to Professor Hwang without telling him that they had been bought. A Korean television station, Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, subsequently aired a documentary in which records from Miz Medi Clinic show that one of the paid donors was a researcher from Professor Hwang's team.(Jane Parry)
Professor Hwang of Seoul National University resigned from his chairmanship on 24 November when he admitted that the eggs used in his laboratory's research came from two junior researchers in his team and from paid donors.
"I will resign from any official advisory board to the government, but I will keep doing stem cell research. The Global Stem Cell Hub will continue by my stem cell researchers and others, and we will do stem cell research by keeping within strict ethical guidelines," he said.
Hwang Woo-suk resigned as chairman of the World Stem Cell Hub after admitting two scientists in his lab donated their eggs for research
Credit: LEE JIN-MAN/AP/EMPICS
Controversy over the source of eggs used in Korean stem cell research, which culminated in Professor Hwang's decision to resign, prompted hundreds of Korean women to offer to donate their eggs, Professor Hwang's supporters said.
The Group to Support Egg Donation for Research and Treatment Purposes was established on 21 November by prominent Korean business leaders, politicians, and celebrities to enable volunteers for egg donation to donate eggs legally and to ensure that donated eggs are used for research purposes. A report from Agence France-Presse said that more than 700 donors have already come forward, including women with incurable diseases or their family members.
The Global Stem Cell Hub was officially opened in Seoul in October this year to make stem cells available to researchers around the world (BMJ 2005;331: 982, 29 Oct). It was intended that the centre would enhance collaboration between teams led by Professor Hwang, Professor Gerald Schatten, director of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, and Ian Wilmut, head of the Department of Gene Expression and Development at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh. However, amid growing controversy about the source of eggs used to generate stem cells, Professor Schatten withdrew from the collaboration in mid-November.
On the same day that Professor Hwang's support group was launched, the fertility expert Sun Il Roh, the head of Miz Medi Clinic, Seoul, told a press conference that he had paid 20 women $1430 (￡840; 1220) each to harvest their eggs and then gave them to Professor Hwang without telling him that they had been bought. A Korean television station, Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, subsequently aired a documentary in which records from Miz Medi Clinic show that one of the paid donors was a researcher from Professor Hwang's team.(Jane Parry)